


lilies at dusk

by mireailles



Series: castles in the sky [2]
Category: Vinland Saga (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27292756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mireailles/pseuds/mireailles
Summary: Takes place in between the events of castles in the sky.  Ketil relents at dusk.
Relationships: Canute/Thorfinn (Vinland Saga)
Series: castles in the sky [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992760
Kudos: 10





	lilies at dusk

**Author's Note:**

> A little continuation of castles in the sky. Apparently there's no tag for Snake? Unless he goes by another name that I'm not aware of? Also, it ends a little abruptly...maybe I'll add more, I dunno yet.

It's dusk when Ketil relents.

He sends a messenger just as the sun's dipping low on the horizon. By then, so many men have passed on, not so much on Canute's side but on Ketil's who promises them glory or their freedom, Thorfinn doesn't know. What he does know is how much destruction it wreaks in it's wake. Over a hundred lives lost--for pride mostly. He's heard the messenger comes not from Ketil himself, but from his son. The one who'd acted so brazenly in front of Canute, the battle has made him wise, that much Thorfinn can discern.

He'd packed up and fled, later on, someone would come to tell Thorfinn that he had spotted Olmar and his family fleeing over a hill somewhere. And that Thorfinn himself had seen Olmar turn around, spot Thorfinn staring up at him, going pale and fleeing faster than he was before. Thorfinn would not know then, that the husk he sees running up that hill was the remnants of Ketil's family.

He ducks into one of the tents where Canute and Wulf had disappeared into. They're in a corner to themselves, the medic finishing up with Wulf's bandages. His eye needed to be taken out, the wound far too deep to be salvaged. She's taking up the gauze when Canute puts a hand on her arm. She bows low and leaves the gauze in his hands. Canute begins to unravel it and with an exercised precision, he loops it around Wulf's head, making sure to do it in such a way that it doesn't pull at the cotton, now embedded where his eye once was.

Thorfinn's mostly leaning against a heavy wooden tent pole, staring as Canute does this, Wulf perfectly still. There's a gust of breeze that catches the tent flaps and he spots a gaggle of men huddled into themselves, whispering to each other. And Thorfinn leans in, as if trying to decipher the conversation.

Canute pauses. "You see something?"

Thorfinn stares at Canute, hand still looping the gauze around Wulf's wound. "Some men are congregating over there."

Canute's eyes move from the men to Wulf to Thorfinn again. His lips press into a thin line, scowl on his face deepening. He sighs and Wulf makes a garbled sound and starts to lift himself off the bed. Canute pushes him back down.

"Go see what all the trouble is," Canute says, turning to Thorfinn. "If they're doing something they're not supposed to, you know what to do."

Thorfinn nods and Wulf makes another strangled sound again, which Canute soothes over by barking at him to sit still while he finishes dressing his wound. He reaches for his blades when he's within listening distance of them. When they spot him, they freeze in their tracks.

"What are you doing?"

"N-nothing sir," one of them manages to stammer out, their eyes growing wide in horror.

"Then what are you standing around for?" Thorfinn bites back, one hand still curled around his blade. "You know what Canute's orders were, withdraw immediately, there's no threat."

"I was aware of the order, sir," the man says, bowing. "But there's a cabin over there."

He points to some indiscernible spot in the fields. Thorfinn tilts his head and sure enough, he spots a small halo of light in between the wheat. It's dim, especially against the oranges and reds of the dusk sky. Thorfinn loosens his grip around his knives.

"I heard there was a woman somewhere there," the man continues, rubbing his hands together.

Thorfinn narrows his eyes. "Disperse immediately, Canute will attend to the matter."

The men flee in different directions once Thorfinn's given the order. He runs a hand over his face, mouth feeling dry. Canute's almost finished with Wulf's bandages, he rolls it over the wound once more and then grabs a pair of scissors on a small table and cuts the gauze. Wulf slowly raises his hand and drags a finger across the bandage.

Canute crosses his arms. "Don't do that, it'll get infected."

"I'll be more careful next time," Wulf says.

Thorfinn walks briskly over to Wulf's bed, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and tipping the glass into his mouth. He swallows thickly.

"What were they up to?" Canute says, casually. "You didn't kill them."

He wipes a hand over his mouth. "There's a cabin in the woods, they're saying there's a woman in there."

Canute, Thorfinn and Wulf make the journey into the fields. They push past it, Thorfinn mostly leading the way as Wulf's leaning heavily on Canute. When they reach the clearing, Thorfinn spots the cabin, with light in it's windows. It's dark out now, Thorfinn looks toward Canute, still holding up Wulf. Canute nods. And Thorfinn knocks on the door. A disheveled man pokes his head out. He has long, greasy dark hair. One arm in a sling, he looks tired.

"Well fuck me," he says as if completely defeated.

"Let him in," someone rasps out. "That's no way to treat a king."

When Canute sees the woman sprawled out on the bed face and body completely bandaged, he orders Thorfinn to grab a medic--two if he could and as much supplies as they can carry. Between the two women and Thorfinn, he grabs an arm full of gauze and some ointments that he's not really sure will do anything.

Canute's hovering over the bed, along with another man with shorter hair. Wulf's sitting off to the side and in a corner is an old man and the man with the long disheveled hair. He drops the supplies on the bed and the two women get to work.

Somewhere in between all of this, one of the medics ends up taking a look at the sling the disheveled man has. They bend his arm this way and that. The man says nothing but hisses under his breath as the medic twists it.

The man beside the bed stirs, ever so slightly. "You're all beasts," he shouts, hands covered in blood. "Beasts disguised as humans--all of you."

The disheveled man puts his good hand out. "He don't mean that, he's just upset is all."

Both Canute and Wulf don't flinch. They don't bother with the man's accusations, as if he's meant the words for someone else entirely. They've become numb to it, Thorfinn too, it's nothing they haven't heard before. Wulf sinks into his chair, looking like he's dozing off. Canute watches carefully as one of the medics unwraps the woman's bandages over her head to assess the damage. Thorfinn slides onto the ground, much too tired to bother with any of it.

He doesn't know when or how he's fallen asleep, just that he's curled up beside Wulf's chair. There's a conversation between Canute and the medic attending to the woman. Their voices low, the man beside her bedside has one of her hands clasped in between his.

"She's gone," the nurse says. "Nothing we can do for her but give her a proper burial."

Canute nods like he understands.

Between him, Canute and the man that was by her bedside the whole night, they dig a grave for her. They wrap her up in the bedding and haul her into a wagon. The man by her side, like a dog almost. When they reach up one of the cliffs, Thorfinn grabs a shovel and they start to dig. Canute tosses his cape off to the side, much too cumbersome and hot. The man looks on, his face, an unreadable expression as he watches Canute plunge his shovel in the dirt beside Thorfinn. He wipes his forehead, staining it with blood and dirt before he walks over to them. He's in between both Canute and Thorfinn, mostly staying on Thorfinn's side and shoves his shovel in the ground.

The ground is hard but once they pierce through, the soil becomes softer. When the man thinks it's enough, they haul her body and carefully lower her into the ditch. There's a makeshift cross crafted from some stray pieces of wood. Wulf's leaning on a rock near the grave, too winded to do much. Canute, the elder man and the one with the sling are talking quietly to themselves. The crash of the waves blotting out their conversation.

He watches silently as the other man, blood and dirt in his hands, shyly walks up to Wulf. "Beggin' your pardon sir," he says, wringing his hands together like a petulant child. "I owe you and your majesty an apology and I'm hopin' he accepts it."

"Canute maybe surly at times but he's forgiving to lesser crimes."

"I spoke out of turn, reckon I shoulda kept my mouth shut."

Wulf laughs.

"I was wonderin' if you could do me a favour?"

"And what would that be?"

The man scratches the back of his neck. "I reckon there's not much left for me here, and if his majesty's willing to take on another--slave or servant."

"I'll see what I can do," Wulf says.

"Thanks, a chance is all I'm askin'."

Wulf brings the man to where Canute, the elder man and the one with his arm in a sling are standing. Without missing a beat, the one with the sling puts out his good hand. "He'll get it done," he says plainly.

The elder man nods his approval. The deal is done quickly, the farm ceded to both men, while Canute gives them silver for the other man. He's a slave, something Thorfinn is fortunate to not have any experience in (despite rumours that it would've been his fate if he had acted out violently).


End file.
